Why is 5 to the 2 power also read as 5 squared

The reason for this has to do with finding the area of a square. When you are looking for the area of a square, you use the rectangle formula (since a square is also a rectangle).

The formula is Area = Length * Width

However, since in a square, the length and width are the same, both get changed to the word "Side". As a result, we get the following formula.

Area = Side * Side

This can be simplified to:

Area = Side^2.

Since each number to the second power also shows the area of a square with that given length sides, it can also be called "squared".